The 1910 Brogan Building - 251 Park Avenue South

 

photo by Feil Organization

On December 11, 1909, the Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide reported that Charles Brogan, Inc. had hired Neville & Bagge to design a "16-story brick and stone loft" at the northeast corner of Fourth Avenue and 20th Street.  The cost, said the article, would be $350,000, or about $12.4 million in 2026 terms.  

The architects' Renaissance Revival design included a three-story, stone-clad base.  Retail spaces sat behind double-height elliptical arches that flooded the interiors with natural light.  Stone faux balconies dotted the brick faced ten-story midsection.  Above an intermediate cornice, a dramatic, triple-height arcade was distinguished by Scamozzi pilasters.  A bracketed cornice completed the design.

A relic from the neighborhood's residential past, the All Souls' Unitarian Church can be seen at the right corner.  The Architectural Record, December 1910 (copyright expired)

The Brogan Building filled with a variety of tenants.  Among the early apparel-related firms were the Regal Art Embroidery Company, which leased the 15th floor in November 1912; the Castle Braid Company; and M. C. Migel & Co., makers of corsets and underwear.  

The Vulcanized Rubber Co., maker of "rubber combs and sundries," was here by 1913.  The United States Rubber Company took two floors in 1918, and the Carlisle Tire Corporation's general offices were in the building by 1920.

Importantly, magazine publishers comprised an important part of the tenant list.  Among them were The Ladies' World, publishers of The Ladies' World and Housekeeper; Harpers' Weekly; and McClure's.  (In fact, 251 Fourth Avenue was popularly called the McClure's Building shortly after its opening in 1910.)

Among the executives of the Castle Braid Company in 1915 was Augustus Latz.  He was the proud father of two Cornell University seniors, Robert C., who was an engineering student, and J. M. Latz, who attended the school's College of Agriculture.  The School of Engineering's graduation ceremonies took place on June 16.  The previous day Latz, his wife, and two friends drove to Ithaca to attend the exercises.  Unfortunately, Augustus Latz would not see either of his sons receive their diplomas.  Fifteen minutes after he and his wife checked into their hotel room, Latz suffered a fatal stroke.  He died without regaining consciousness.

An interesting tenant in the post-World War I years was The Better America Picture-Lectures.  It offered pre-packaged lectures to church groups (ten in a set) with "colored lantern slides."  Its ad in The Expositor in 1919 guaranteed, "You...will need only a brief preparation--and the first one will so advertise the others that you need have no empty seats in your audience."

The Aircraft Syndicate and its related concern, the Aircraft Construction-Transportation Corporation, moved into offices on the 11th floor in 1921.  Its advertisement, printed in German, in the Staats-Zeitung on May 19 was headlined: "$20 for $1!  This is a Fact!"  The ad began, "Every German ought to invest his savings in this wonderful safe undertaking, New York-Chicago in giant Zeppelins in eight hours."  It guaranteed, "Money cannot be lost.  The future belongs to aerial navigation," and concluded, "Every millionaire started that way."  It was signed, "Mr. Goognair, 251 4th av."

Suspicious, a reporter from the New York Herald visited the office.  Mr. Goognair was not in, but the firm's president, Jean D. De Deltrand, granted an interview.  Shown the ad, he said, "I'm glad you showed it to me.  We're not responsible of course, inasmuch as our name is not signed thereto...Must speak to him about it."  De Deltrand called Goognair, "a nice, energetic chap, but probably a bit too enthusiastic in his use of words."

Nevertheless, he assured the reporter that the firm was preparing to build "three airships of the Zeppelin type, 1,000 feet long."  He explained that the trip from New York and Chicago would take ten hours and the "rate for a passenger will be $75, including berth and meals."  (The fare would translate to about $1,300 today.)   Additionally, to accommodate Chicago-to-New York passengers, the firm proposed to build a "great hotel in West Forty-second street, say about Tenth avenue" outfitted with a zeppelin landing platform on the roof.

from the collection of the New York Public Library

Among Jean De Detrand's office staff at the time was bookkeeper Catherine C. Conlon.  On July 11, 1921, De Detrand asked her to stay after hours "so that he could instruct her in the method he wanted followed in opening a new set of books," explained the New York Herald.  Instead, De Detrand made "unmanly advances, and finally made an attack upon her," as described by The New Orleans States.  Catherine fought him off, but, according to her, she "suffered greatly in mind and body."  The Evening World reported that the incident caused her to suffer "a nervous breakdown."

In a desperate attempt to quell a potential catastrophic scandal, "Mr. de Detrand telephoned the girl's home next day, apologized and offered to defray the expenses of the girl, her father and her aunt, with whom she lived, on a vacation trip," reported The New Orleans States.  Instead, Catherine filed a $50,000 suit against her employer.  De Detrand denied the charges, saying he "was with her alone for the first time" that night, "and then for not more than ten minutes."

In the meantime, the Freed-Eisemann Radio Corporation, "manufacturers of high and low radio apparatus," occupied space here; as did the offices of the Reinhardt Manufacturing Company, which manufactured silk ribbons in Paterson, New Jersey; the Catoir Silk Company; and the publishers of Success Magazine.  The Parents Publishing Company moved onto the 16th floor in January 1929.

The Depression brought a new tenant, the local Works Progress Administration offices.  And political and social upheaval in Europe in the late 1930s and early 1940s prompted another type of renter.  As early as 1941, the offices of the Jewish National Workers' Alliance were here.  Among its operations was the administration of the Unser Camp and Kinderwelt, the organizations "summer home" at Highland Mills, New York.  

Midcentury saw additional publishers in the building.  Fur & Leather Worker magazine was here as early as 1948, as was the N. P. D. Corporation, which published periodicals like Modern Photography and National Photo Dealer.  Exposition Press, which occupied space by 1950, created illustrated booklets like "How to Select a Publisher." 

Abraham Liberman, head of Book Sales, Inc., narrowly escaped arrest in the summer of 1955.  Another publisher, Samuel Roth, was indicted on August 20 "for sending obscene articles and publications through the mails."  The New York Times reported that Abraham Liberman was "listed in the indictment" as a co-conspirator, but was not indicted.

The neighborhood was known as "Camera Row" in the 1950s, and among the related firms in 251 Fourth Avenue were Intercontinental Marketing Corporation, which distributed camera accessories; Nikon Incorporated; and Fuji Photo Optical Products.

Fourth Avenue was renamed Park Avenue South in 1959.  By then, a different type of tenant had already started changing the personality of No. 251.  The Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies moved into the building in 1957, and The International Rescue Committee and its Medico Division were here by the following year.  By 1968, the American Occupational Therapy Association and the Jess Ward Foundation occupied space.

The Crestwick-Hummelwert stood alone among the publishing, camera, and welfare organizations.  The firm was described by The New York Times in 1965 as "distributor of Hummel figurines and other novelties."

Among the tenants in the 1980s were the architectural offices of Conklin & Rossant; the Young Adult Institute; and The Hinson Collections, manufacturers of high-end wall coverings.

image via marketplce.vts.com

Significant interior renovations to the building began in the late 1990s, and some exterior restoration was initiated.  It was possibly during this work that the cornice was removed, leaving an unfortunate scar and an uncompleted look.

many thanks to reader Peter Alsen for prompting this post.

The 1909 Fourth Avenue Building - 381 Park Avenue So.

mage via loopnet.com

In 1909, architect Charles A. Valentine filed plans for a 16-story "brick and stone office building" at the southeast corner of Fourth Avenue and 27th Street.  Construction would cost developer A. Filmore Hyde $700,000, just under $25 million in 2026 terms.  Named the Fourth Avenue Building, its Renaissance Revival design included a three-story rusticated limestone base.  The 10-story midsection was faced in beige brick, its grouped openings stacked within full-height metal frames that included cartouche-decorated spandrels.

The reserved ornamentation of the lower levels was merely an aperitif for the three-story top level.  Paired arches separated by engaged columns were embraced within elaborate pointed arches, possibly inspired by Milan's Ca Granda.  The spandrels were embellished with frothy shields.

The Architectural Record, December 1910 (copyright expired)

The Fourth Avenue Building filled with a diverse tenant list.  Among them was the New York office of the State Labor Department.  Its meeting rooms were normally the scenes of labor disputes and strike negotiations, but in June 1911, its staff was distracted with a much different issue.  

George E. Dayton had worked as a financial clerk "for many years," according to The New York Times.  "He was so methodical in his habits that his fellow-clerks said they could regulate their watches by him."  On Friday, June 2, Dayton, who was a widower, left for his "Summer camp" in New London, Connecticut.  He was scheduled to return on June 7, but did not, and, in fact, was never heard of again. 

The New York Department of Labor would remain for years, dealing with issues like the 1912 laundrymen strike, and holding public hearings on fire-prevention construction methods the same year.

Another initial tenant was the substantial contracting firm Caldwell-Wingate Company.  It not only erected structures, but demolished them.  In November 1912, for instance, it received the contract for demolishing the four buildings at 107-113 East 23rd Street; and on July 14, 1924, the New York Evening Post reported that it had received the $4,174,800 contract to erect the Brooklyn Municipal Building.

Coldwell-Wingate Company was headed by Roy Wilson Wingate.  He suffered a public scandal in December 1921 when George J. Ainslee sued him for $50,000 for having "won his wife's affections by taking her on automobile trips, to dances and other entertainments."  The Ainslees divorced and whether Wingate (who was married with two children) continued the affair is unclear.

What is clear is that three years later, on March 20, 1924, Roy W. Wingate and his wife hosted a dinner and bridge party.  The guests left at around 10:00.  Mrs. Wingate went to bed, but woke shortly afterward "in pain," according to The New York Times.  She "saw her husband standing by her with a revolver in his hand."  After shooting his wife, Wingate walked around the bed, got under the bedclothes, and shot himself through the heart.

The Wingates' 14-year-old daughter, Janet, rushed to the bedroom.  Her mother said, "Your father shot me and then shot himself.  Get a doctor, get Dr. Brown quickly."  While his wife' life was saved at a hospital, Wingate had died instantly.  In reporting on the tragedy, The New York Times remarked, "The firm has just about completed the new building of Saks & Co. in Fifth Avenue."

In the meantime, perhaps the first publishing firm to occupy offices in the Fourth Avenue Building was The Crowell Publishing Company.  It published popular periodicals like Farm & Fireside, Woman's Home Companion, The American Magazine, and Colliers, the National Weekly.

George Buckley was president of Crowell Publishing Company.  On May 21, 1918, a telegram from the War Department informed him that his brother, Joseph H. Buckley, had been wounded in France.  A few weeks later, Buckley received a surprising letter from his brother dated two days after that telegram.  Joseph Buckley had enclosed in the letter "a piece of the shrapnel" that was removed from his wounds, reported The New York Times on June 9.

Thomas Nelson & Sons occupied space by 1915.  It published the American Standard Bible and Nelson's Perpetual Loose-Leaf Encyclopaedia, which enabled subscribers to insert and remove new or outdated information.  Founded in Edinburgh, Scotland, the firm was headed by the founder's son, William Thomson, who took over in 1904.  Born in 1862, he started working in the company when he was 14 and came to the United States in 1893.

Sophie Kerr symbolized the modern, self-sufficient career woman of the early 20th century.  The unmarried young woman was an editor of the Woman's Home Companion.  She scoffed at debutantes whose entire focus was preparing to be the wife of an affluent man, telling Marguerite Mooers Marshall of The Evening World in March 1917, "No girl in America is so rich that she can afford not to know how to earn."

In 1919 the National Juvenile Motion Picture League established its headquarters here.  Its president, Adele F. Woodward explained its purpose on May 25, saying "it expresses the idea in the efforts of many people who are opposed to official censorship of motion pictures, yet believe that the moral and artistic influence of many films is bad."  To that end, the league published The Bulletin that reviewed motion pictures.  The standards were, apparently high.  On May 25, 1919, The New York Times reported that between January 1 and May 20 that year, it "reviewed about 400 feature pictures and comedies, of which about 70 had been approved."  (By the following year, the organization's name was changed to The National Motion Picture League.)

In October 1921, the Industrial Bank of New York leased the ground floor, and Princeton Silk Mills took space on an upper floor.

Additional publishing firms moved into the building.  In the 1920s, it was home to the International Publishers, the Macaulay Company, Engineering Magazine Company, and Experimental Publications.  The latter published Radio News, which it boasted in 1929 had a "circulation larger than that of any other radio publication."

International Publishers had a decidedly socialist bent.  On September 15, 1925, The New York Times reported that it had released Leon Trotsky's Whither England? that day.  In it Trotsky predicted:

The inevitable hour will strike for American capital also: the American oil and steel magnates, trust and export leaders, the multimillionaires of New York, Chicago and San Francisco are performing--though unconsciously--their predestined revolutionary function.  And the American proletariat will ultimately discharge theirs.

Two years later, on October 5, 1927, The Daily Worker reported that International Publishers, "cooperating with the Lenin Institute in Moscow," was publishing "the complete and definitive edition of Lenin's speeches and writings."  And three months later, in January 1928, the firm published Scott Nearing's Whither China?.  Nearing was a leading intellectual within the Socialist Party of America.

A much less controversial publishing firm, which moved into the building in June 1929, was Popular Science Publishing Company, publishers of Popular Science Magazine.  It signed a lease "for a long term of years" for the seventh floor, reported The New York Times.

The early 1930s saw new tenants, including The Modern Institute, which offered slimming techniques by mail order; the Boys Clubs of America headquarters; and the offices of the Social Register Association, which annually published the directory of America's socially elite.

The Modern Institute's advertisements, like this one from 1932, guaranteed results in the privacy of one's home.

Having the New York State Department of Labor within the building might have been convenient for the Macaulay Company in 1934.  On September 19, The Daily Worker reported that a breach of contract "caused the calling yesterday of the second strike in three months, by the Office Workers Union.  During the first strike, in May, 18 picketers were arrested, including several respected authors.

Now, the union charged that Macaulay Company had fired three workers "without consulting the shop committee."  The dispute triggered a strike of the employees of eight other publishing houses.  Strikers lined the sidewalks outside the Fourth Avenue Building while Lee S. Furman, president of the firm, called them "malcontents" and "agitators."

Other politically-motivated tenants moved into the building in the 1930s, including the North American Committee to Aid Spanish Democracy and the offices of the American Peace Mobilization. 

A seemingly non-political tenant was the G. S. Blakeslee Company, distributors of dishwashing machines.  One employee, however, did have a political agenda.  On January 15, 1940, The New York Times reported on the FBI's indictments against 18 co-conspirators who were intent to overthrow the Government of the United States.  Among them was 32-year-old Blakeslee employee Macklin Boettger.  He and the other members of the Christian Front were or had been members of various branches of the American military and had stolen weapons from National Guard armories.

Increasingly, organizations established their headquarters in 381 Fourth Avenue.  On February 2, 1940, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt visited the offices of the National Youth Administration here.  The group placed "orphaned boys and girls in employment," explained The New York Times.  Mrs. Roosevelt commended the work and suggested it could be extended throughout the country, but cautioned, "against the possibility of the plan's falling into the hands of unscrupulous people who might use it to get cheap labor and to exploit youth."

On September 22, 1942, following the United States entry into World War II, West Coast shipbuilder Henry J. Kaiser opened a "recruiting office" here.  The New York Times said he intended "to recruit 20,000 shipyard workers for his plants."  By 4:00 the first day, 1,600 had applied.  The plan was successful.  Two weeks later, the newspaper reported that another "trainload of workers" was heading for the Kaiser shipbuilding yard in Portland, Oregon.

The U.S. Government followed suit and installed an Army recruiting office here.  A journalist who stopped by on April 26, 1942, counted "more than 400 men in line."

At midcentury, the International Publishers (which would remain into the 1970s) and its Socialist ideology drew the attention of Congress.  On June 20, 1951, at the height of Senator Joseph McCarthy's anti-Communism campaign, Russian-born Alexander Leo Trachtenberg, the head of the firm, was indicted on conspiracy charges.

Alexander Leo Trachtenberg, The New York Times, June 21, 1951

Trachtenberg went on trial on January 7, 1953.  His attorney called him the victim of "a frame-up and a fraud."  The publisher was convicted under the Smith Act (known today as the Alien Registration Act) but his conviction was overturned when a government witness recanted his testimony.

Still occupying space in the 1960s were the Boys Clubs of America and the Social Register.  A new tenant by 1963 was the New York Board of Regents.

In 1959, Fourth Avenue was renamed Park Avenue South.  Atco Properties and Management acquired 381 Park Avenue South in 1974.  The firm's senior vice president, Peter L. DiCapua, later explained that the property was its first "adaptive re-use of middle-aged buildings."  He told Richard D. Lyons of The New York Times in December 1989, "We put in a lot of dollars and re-created the original design, such as restoring the main lobby to its original form, while upgrading the mechanical systems."

image via marketplace.vts.com

Among Atco's initial tenants was Public Affairs Pamphlets, which published brochures like "Help for Your Troubled Child," "Helping Children Face Crisis," and "Your Child's Emotional Health" in 1977.  It was joined in the building with Inform, a non-profit environmental group that published reported issues about chemical hazard pollution, sustainable transportation and such.  As early as 2009, the National Center for Learning Disabilities operated from the building.

many thanks to reader Peter Alsen for prompting this post

The 1910 Mills & Gibb Buildilng - 300 Park Avenue South

 

photograph by "Eden, Janine and Jim"

On February 22, 1910, two days after its final service was celebrated, demolition began on the 1855 Fourth Avenue Presbyterian Church.  The previous month, The American Carpet & Upholstery Journal had reported that, "The well-known importing and jobbing firm of Mills & Gibb" had purchased the church property at the northwest corner of Fourth Avenue and 22nd Street "for the erection of a sixteen-story building for their exclusive use."

Philo L. Mills and John Gibb established the firm in 1865.  It dealt in dry goods with a focus on lace and linen.  Saying that the new building "will be in the heart of the new business district," The American Carpet & Upholstery Journal said it "means additional room for the expanding business."

The original concept of a 16-story structure had been scaled back by May when The American Carpet & Upholstery Journal reported, "The new building of Mills & Gibb...will be an imposing fourteen-story affair.  The architects are Godwin, Stearritt & Van Bleck."  The journalist had grossly gotten the firm's name wrong.  The architect was the respected firm of Starrett & Van Vleck.

Completed in 1910, the Mills & Gibb Building's tripartite Renaissance Revival design included a three-story rusticated limestone base.  Stores sat behind a double-height arcade along the ground floor.  Each arch was capped with a Renaissance inspired shield--some blind and others carved with intricate designs.  They reappeared in the terra cotta spandrel panels (where they were held by cherubic figures against a background of swirling vines and flowers) and at the corners of the 12th floor.

One of the spandrels of the lower arches.   image via Beyond My Ken

The mid- and top sections were faced in variegated, sandy-colored brick and trimmed in limestone and terra cotta.  The two-story top section featured double-height arcades that echoed those of the Palazzo Medici Riccardi in Florence.

Mills & Gibb leased the stores and portions of the upper floors.  Among the early tenants was the publishing firm Funk & Wagnalls Company, here as early as 1913.

On February 2, 1928, The New York Times reported, "The Mills & Gibb Building...has been purchased by William F. Kenny."  With the massive dry goods firm now gone, Kenny filled the essentially vacant building with a variety of tenants.  In December, the headquarters of the Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor moved in.  And the following year, a swarm of businesses signed leases.

Among those moving into stores during 1929 were Rottenberg Sons Co., Inc. and Yarns Corporation of America.  Upper spaces were taken by the Container Testing Laboratories for its offices and laboratory; Picker X-Ray Corporation, which leased the 11th floor; the National Carbon Company; Standard Radio Corporation of America; Vassar Swiss Underwear Company, the John Martin's House, Inc.; Walcott-Taylor Company, Inc., which took the 10th floor; the E. P. Dutton publishing firm; and Carl Gutmann & Co.

image from the collection of the Library of Congress

E. P. Dutton & Co. would remain for years.  It launched an unusual marketing campaign in February 1932.  The New York Times reported, "In order to tap the vast reservoirs of knowledge of the publishing business possessed by the general public, E. P. Dutton & Co. are offering a number of prizes."  The writer who best stated what books should be included in the firm's catalogue "and why he would have published them" would receive $50.  The Depression era money--equal to more than $1,000 in 2026--was a significant incentive.

The building's tenant list continued to be highly varied.  In 1936 the School for Embalmers was here, and the following year, on April 28, 1937, the headquarters of the National Distillers Products Corporation opened.  Its first item of business, reported The New York Times, was the end of "the price war which disrupted wholesale liquor price schedules."

Also taking space that year was the National Conference of Jews and Christians.  The organization's focus, understandably, was greatly taken up with happenings in Europe.  On November 15, 1938, for instance, its director, Dr. Everett D. Clinchy, "announced plans for a mass meeting...at which implications of the German persecutions would be discussed."

By 1943, the National Conference of Jews and Christians operated a syndicated column, "The Question Box."  On January 18, 1943, The Tacoma Times urged: "Readers of The Times are invited to send in questions regarding the Protestant, Catholic or Jewish faiths.  Questions will be answered as promptly as possible."

In the meantime, the ongoing war kept another tenant, the North Atlantic headquarters of the American National Red Cross, more than busy.  On August 4, 1942, The New York Times reported, "The urgent need for 3,000 nurses a month--2,500 for the Army and 500 for the Navy--and methods of recruiting them were discussed yesterday at a conference of nurses" here.

The Architectural Record, December 1910 (copyright expired)

Domestic emergencies did not pause because of the global  upheaval overseas.  On the night of November 28, 1942, fire broke out in the Cocoanut Grove nightclub in Boston.  It resulted in the deaths of 492 patrons.  Two days later, The New York Times reported, "The North Atlantic area of the Red Cross, with headquarters at 300 Fourth Avenue, went to work in a hurry late Saturday night and continued all days yesterday to do what it could to supply relief to the victims of the night club fire."

Another domestic disaster occurred on January 3, 1944, when explosions sank the Navy's USS Turner near Sandy Hook, New Jersey.  The Red Cross sprung into action, quickly packing 200 cartons of blood plasma.  A helicopter landed in Battery Park to transport two cases to Sandy Hook, while the rest were sent by Coast Guard cutter.

The Picker X-Ray Company was still here at midcentury.  On December 16, 1950, its "new type of X-ray shield that makes it possible for radiologists to treat deep-seated cancers with X-ray dosages" was announced by the Radiological Society of North America.  

Also operating from the building in the 1950s were the Kamlet Laboratories and Allied Impex Corporation.  The former firm announced a surprising development on August 12, 1955.  Explaining that "The tradition that goats thrive on a diet of old newspapers and the labels from tin cans got strong confirmation this week," The New York Times reported that Dr. Jonas Kamlet had received a patent for goat feed that contained substantial amounts of newsprint.

The Allied Impex Corporation, which dealt in photographic supplies and devices, also created innovations.  It announced its Ultrablitz Monojet electronic flash gun on October 4, 1959, for instance.

In 1959, Fourth Avenue was renamed Park Avenue South.  Having a new address did not change the disparate tenant list.  The United Federation of Teachers, Local 2 leased a floor in September 1962; East House Enterprises, makers of paper products took a floor in 1964; and the National Citizens Committee to Defend Academic Freedom at St. John's [University].

The 1970s saw Planned Parenthood, the American Council of Voluntary Agencies for Foreign Service and Cabrini Health Care Center in the building.

Change came in 2010 when Rockrose Development Corporation purchased and vacated the Mills & Gibb Building in order to reimagine it.  In a 2012 interview, Rockrose president Justin Elghanayan explained that the firm had transformed it "into a creative arts building."  He told Vivian Marino of The New York Times, "We have the Smithsonian, Leo Burnett, the Whitney, Wilhelmina Models and various other high-profile tenants."

photograph by Beyond My Ken

What Rockrose Development did not remodel was Starrett & Van Vleck's 1909 design (other than the main entrance).  The commercial palazzo retains its stately presence after more than a century.

many thanks to reader Peter Alsen for prompting this post

The Quondam Building - 450-460 Park Avenue South

 

On July 2, 1910, the Real Estate Record & Guide reported that the De Forest Estate Corporation had leased the southwest corner of Fourth Avenue and 31st Street to the Quondam Realty Co.  The article said, "Work is to be started on or about Aug. 1 for the new-story office structure."  The Bridgemen's Magazine noted that the architectural firm of Herts & Tallant had designed the plans.  "The building will be known as the Quondam Building, and will be in the gothic style of architecture, and is estimated to cost $200,000."

Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide, July 2, 1910 (copyright expired)

Those plans were soon expanded.  Construction was delayed as negotiations with Robert Goelet, who owned the abutting property, played out.  Goelet leased his plot at 450-454 Fourth Avenue to the Quondam Leasing Company, now giving the developers a parcel twice the width of the original.

Herts & Tallant filed the revised plans on March 28, 1911.  The Engineering Record noted that the "12-story brick and terra cotta commercial building" would now cost $450,000 to erect (about $15.3 million in 2026).  

Completed in 1912, Herts & Tallant had designed two buildings that successfully pretended to be one.  Faced in white terra cotta, the architects' design was a 1911 take on late Gothic and Tudor.  The two-story base included elaborate arched entrances below niches with intricate Gothic hoods.  Quatrafoil panels created spandrels within the eight-story midsection.  Above a molded bandcourse, the two-story top section drew inspiration from Tudor-style residences, like the Dalmeny House near Edinburg, Scotland, with its crenellated parapet and Tudor pinnacles.

Although they were two buildings, some floors were cut through to create full-width spaces for tenants like silk manufacturers Collins, Doorly & Franc.  When the firm moved into the building in 1912, they had already named two silk colors in honor of Presidential daughters--Alice Blue, for Alice Roosevelt, and Helen Pink, for Helen Herron Taft.  Now, on November 8, 1912, The New York Times reported, "Collins, Doorly & Franc, 450 Fourth Avenue, have obtained permission from Miss Eleanor Randolph Wilson, daughter of the President-elect, to name a new color 'Nell Rose,' in her honor."

Silk magazine, November 1912 (copyright expired)

Tenants in the buildings were highly varied.  Among them were Valentine Brothers, makers of oils and varnishes; Atlas Advertising Agency; the International Souvenir Spoon Company; and Wireless Age magazine.

Among the sales staff of Valentine Brothers in 1913 was George Pettit.  The 34-year-old was dealing with serious personal problems.  He was separated from his wife and living in a Brooklyn boarding house.  Additionally, despite his relative youth, he was suffering from rheumatism.  He remarked to his landlady, Annie Magno, "that he intended to jump from the Brooklyn Bridge," according to The New York Times.  Annie brushed it off.  But a few nights later, on September 10, 1913, she was standing outside Pettit's door and heard him exclaim, "I did it!  I did it all right!"

Pettit had swallowed poison.  Annie Magno first called a policeman and then telephoned the Swedish Hospital, but it was too late.  The newspaper said Pettit's name "was added last night to the long list of those who have committed suicide by taking Bichloride of mercury tablets."

Another fabric dealer to occupy a full floor was A. Wimpfheimer & Brother, dealers in "velvets, plushes and other pile fabrics," as explained by Dry Goods Economist in December 1916.  Other tenants in the building at the time were Cerag Company, makers of a "delicious food rich" laxative; Motorcycle & Bicycle Illustrated magazine; and the National Amateur Wireless Association.  (On January 14, 1916, The New York Times reported, "The President of the association is Guglielmo Marconi.")

The American Clock & Suit Review, June 1915 (copyright expired)

In 1917, The Merchants' Association embarked on an "Anti-Litter" campaign within the commercial district of 14th Street to 42nd Street.  As a part of the program, "block captains" were selected from one business per block.  On December 10, Greater New York reported, "The American Velvet Company, 450-460 Fourth Avenue, has appointed Mr. Michael Robertori, Block Captain."  In one of his reports, Robertori disclosed:

I have made a thorough examination of this street and found conditions very good with the exception of a coal and wood establishment that has a habit of leaving cakes of ice on the sidewalk.  I have notified him this day to refrain from doing this as the sidewalk must be absolutely free from all obstructions.  He promises to remedy this and I shall watch him closely.

Among the broad spectrum of tenants in the building at the time were the Corrective Eating Society and the American Trapshooting Association.  

The Hammondsport Products Company was occuping space when Prohibition was enacted.  The firm held a permit "for manufacturing and selling wine for sacramental purposes," according to Federal agents.  But it seems that the firm's clients were not merely synagogues and churches.

In October 1922, agents Izzy Einstein and Moe Smith, disguised as cigar clerks in a small store in Grand Street, made inquiries about how they could obtain alcohol.  They were told that "wine could be bought from the Hammondsport Products Company, Inc. 450 Fourth Avenue, by using a password."  

According to the New-York Tribune on October 13, "They said that they telephoned to N. Rosenblum, secretary of the Rabbinical Bureau...who is also said to be a salesman for the Hammondsport company, and arranged for the purchase of the ten cases of assorted wine."  When the cases were delivered to the Grand Street address, the agents paid the trucker with marked bills.  They then seized, "the wine, the bills and the truck."  There were another 20 cases of wine in the vehicle.

Advertising agency Winemiller and Miller, Inc. had occupied space as early as 1919.  They employed what were called "illustrative photographers," and a representative told Studio Light, "We prepared to meet every demand, from a convincing and dramatic scene of fireman rescuing patients from a burning hospital...to the most advantageous display of a box of hairpins."  

In the spring of 1925, Winemiller and Miller, Inc. initiated an ad campaign for the Glen Falls Insurance Company.  For publicity, the firm launched a nationwide contest for the best fire prevention slogans.  It received more than 150,000 entries and the 100 best were awarded prizes--from $5 to $500--in the firm's offices on March 28.  (The winning slogan was, "Answer the Burning Question with Fire Prevention.")

The offices of the Westminster Kennel Club were in the building as early as 1929.  The distinguished dog show was scheduled to take place in Madison Square Garden beginning February 11 that year, and on January 27 The New York Times reported that entries "are still pouring into the offices of the club."  The article said, "Up to last night more than 2,000 dogs had been listed, with a large pile of entry blanks still to be tabulated."

Mid-century saw a new type of tenant, beginning with Leo H. Spivack, Inc. which opened its furniture showroom in May 1959.  An advertisement in Interiors that month described the showrooms as, "Newly hatched...and fairly bursting with the freshest, finest, most comprehensive collection of Scandinavian imports you ever saw!"

The original first- and second-floor detailing survived in 1940.  via the NYC Dept of Records & Information Services.

Furniture dealer William L. Marshall, Ltd. followed in 1961.  On August 8, The New York Times said that Marshall "has been channeling his cargoes of Asian, African and South American timber into banks, a law school, restaurants, hotel lobbies, club, libraries, executive offices of major corporations."

In 1959, Fourth Avenue was renamed Park Avenue South.  The following year, according to The New York Times, "Iranians began to move into the rug-importing trade in the city in large numbers."  Now, in 1976, 450-460 Park Avenue South had become a center for rug importers, part of what was deemed the "Oriental rug district."

The district lasted through 1983, when, according to Jon S. Ansari, president of the Amiran Corporation here, rug dealers were exasperated by the rising rents.  Other tenants quickly moved in.  Ogilvy & Mather leased "several floors," as described by Newsday on May 23, 1984 for its corporate headquarters.  Subsequent tenants included Facts on File publishing, the Montserrat Tourist Board, and Franklin Spier, Inc., which leased 21,300 square feet in 1997.

On the ground floor, the cabaret Arci's Place opened in 1999.  In 2005, PS450 opened, a restaurant with "a menu of comfort food," according to The New York Times food critic Florence Fabricant on March 23.  And in September 2018, a Felix Roasting Co. coffee bar and cafe moved in.

Renovations to the first and second floors were initiated in 2017.  Sadly, the stripped-down modernization erased what was left of Herts & Tallant's wonderful terra cotta decorations.

The entrance of No. 460 in 2011 (from Google Streetviews)

...and in 2026

photographs by the author

The Lost Lyceum Theatre - Fourth Avenue near 23rd Street

 

photograph by Byron Company, from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

William Y. Mortimer leased a 50-foot-wide parcel on the west side of Fourth Avenue (later Park Avenue South) between 23rd and 24th Streets in January 1884 to Philip G. Hubert, Charles W. Clinton, and Michael Brennan for 21 years at a yearly rental of $4,000.  The trio hired the architectural firm of Hubert & Pirsson to design a theater on the site for the American Theatre Company.  Theatrical managers and producers Steele Mackaye, Gustave Frohman, and Franklin Sergeant were the main forces behind the newly formed group.

The three-story structure was completed in 1884 at a cost of $50,000 (about $1.6 million in 2024).  In his 1903 A History of the New York Stage, T. Allston Brown mentioned that it was faced in "finished brick, with freestone trimmings."  Hubert & Pirsson's somber Romanesque Revival stood in stark contrast with Peter Ponnet Wight's exuberant, Venetian Gothic style Academy of Design next door.  The New York Times flatly described the architecture of the Lyceum Theatre as, "nondescript."  

But the reserved facade belied the wondrous interiors.  Calling the Lyceum "richly appointed," The Sun's Guide of New York noted, "the interior decorations were made by the Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company," and the Memorial History of the City of New-York said the theater "is quite unique in its decorations, which are mainly of artistic colored and jeweled glass."  Tiffany Glass & Decorating worked closely with Thomas Alva Edison, a close friend of Steel Mackaye, in the design.  It would be the first New York theater to be lit entirely by electricity.  "No other theatre in New York resembles the Lyceum," said The Sun's Guide of New York.

There were other innovations, as well.  "It is the only theater in the city without a family circle," noted The Memorial History of the City of New-York.  Of note was the orchestra "frame or box."  When the overture began, the stage curtains opened to reveal the orchestra.  At its completion, "the musicians were hoisted on the automatic elevator clear into the flies, where the bottom of the car made the top part of the proscenium frame," explained the article.  

Steele Mackaye had always intended that the building would also house an acting school.  It was a brilliant scheme, affording him first pick of talented newcomers.  On August 3, 1884, The New York Times noted, "Mr. Mackaye's ability in the line of promoting undeveloped dramatic taste is already well understood."  On the same day (while the building was still under construction), the Morning Journal reported, "Within a fortnight, the new Lyceum Conservatory will begin operations with its first class of one hundred pupils."

Reporters were given a tour of the theater in March 1885, a month before opening night.  The critic from The New York Times was far from pleased.  He said that that upon entering, "the stairs right and left are so quiet, with their wood finished in old English style, that one is unprepared for the coming orgy of Oriental decoration."

Admitting that the design of "Mr. Louis C. Tiffany, the decorator, is in the main a pretty one," the critic went on to pan the sumptuous, colorful auditorium, saying in part:

It takes time to adjust one's faculties to the variety of decoration offered...and you hardly know whether you are in Ceylon or Connecticut.  One has but to raise the eyes to the great cluster of colored globes lit by electricity, and feel one's self once more in the Mosque of Teef-haneh at Afrasiab, so beautifully iridescent are the soft hues that stream therefrom.  They hang like the suspended ostrich eggs in the Tomb of the Prophet.  But one is not safely landed in Mecca before the abstracted eye glides unwarily upon a strictly Hindu bit of decoration, and thus in a moment one is carried 1,000 miles from Araby into furthest India.  Looking back about the front of the gallery, however, one is quickly restored to our own New-York, for who but Mr. Louis C. Tiffany could have dribbled melted lead so frantically over pieces of parti-colored glass like those blue bull's eyes with electric lights behind them, plastered against the brown satin background?  Let us confess, it is a jumble.

The Lyceum Theatre opened on April 6, 1885 with Mackaye's new play Dakolar.  (Admission to the 661-seat venue ranged from 75 cents to 2 dollars.)  The New York Times critic was as uncomplimentary to the play as he had been to the auditorium's décor.  He said it fell far short of what "this public had the right to expect in the first production of the much-trumpeted Lyceum Theatre."

Less than a month later, on May 1, The New York Times reported, "the lines of the Lyceum Theatre do not appear to have been cast in pleasant places, and the creditors of the house are now engaged in looking upon it with rather anxious eyes."  Among those creditors was Louis C. Tiffany.  "His contract for decorations amounted to $50,000, of which $42,000 is still unpaid," said the article.  (The outstanding balance would equal $1.37 million today.)  The article said, "It was expected that Mr. Steele Mackaye's play 'Dakolar' would crowd the house nightly.  The public, however, has not responded."

Louis C. Tiffany & Co. sued the American Theatre Company in July, quickly followed by a suit by Franklin H. Sargent, one of the founders and the instructor of the Lyceum Theatre School.  He claimed $10,000 in unpaid wages.

Actress Helen Dauvray took over management of the theater for two seasons, during which she starred in One of Our Girls, which ran for 200 performances.

Helen Dauvray (seated) and the cast of One of Our Girls in the Lyceum Theatre. from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

On May 3, 1887, Daniel Frohman, brother of Gustav Frohman, one of the original founders, took over.  Under Frohman, the Lyceum Theatre became one of New York's foremost venues.  In 1892, The Sun's Guide to New York described it as "a richly appointed, carefully arranged house, and a fashionable place of amusement," adding, "The theatre is noted for the rich and tasteful scenic settings, the handsome dresses of the actresses, and the refined character of the plays."

Daniel Frohman's company included stars like E. H. Sothern, Maude Adams and Richard Mansfield.  Upon taking over the Lyceum Theatre, he made a change that elated many theater-goers.  The Record & Guide reported, "Manager Frohman has made quite a hit in trying to induce the lady patrons of the Lyceum Theatre to remove their bonnets before taking seats that would obstruct the view of those sitting behind them.  A good many ladies have complied with the request, and the matter has excited so much discussion in social circles as to make it a very good advertisement for the theatre."

Like One of Our Girls, the play Lord Chumley was a hit.  Written by David Belasco (who worked for years with Frohman here) and Henry Churchill de Mille, it starred Maude Adams and E. H. Sothern.  On August 21, 1888, the drama critic of The New York Times began his review saying,

It is so nice and refreshing to find a play which can be spoken of in an ecstasy of adjectival gushfulness that I feel inclined to toy with it and gloat over it, like a cat does over a newly caught mouse, before I begin to discuss its merits.  Strict consideration for the feelings of others, however, prompts me to restrain myself.

A scene from Lord Chumley.   from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

The play suffered a tragedy a few weeks later.  Charles B. Bishop played the role of Adam Butterworth in Lord Chumley.  Although he was not feeling well on October 8, 1889, he went to the theater as normal.  The New York Times reported, "He was in good humor and pleasantly greeted his associates...He was prominent in the first scene of the play, and was ready at the wings waiting for his cue.  When it came, he went on gayly, and acted the scene through as brightly and spiritedly as he had ever done."

After exiting the stage, he staggered down the stairs to the stage manager's office and fell to the floor.  In less than ten minutes he was dead.  The curtain closed mid-act, and a few seconds later E. H. Sothern notified the audience that Bishop was dead and that the play would not continue.

On December 31, 1901, the New-York Tribune reported that Richard Mortimer, son of William Mortimer, had sold the property to William E. Hebberd.  Although the Tribune's reporter was assured, "It merely means a new ownership, that's all," the journalist noted, "There have been rumors recently that the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, of New-York, intended to get the property in order to enlarge its holdings in the block bounded by Madison Square, Fourth-ave., Twenty-third, and Twenty-fourth sts."

 from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

Indeed, less than two months later, on February 6, 1902, the newspaper reported, "Title to the Lyceum Theatre property, in Fourth-ave...was recently obtained by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company...It was then announced that this was the Lyceum's last season, at the end of which the building would be torn down."

Demolition of the building began on March 20, 1902.  The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company's new building engulfed the 23rd Street blockfront from Madison Avenue to Fourth Avenue, eradicating a score of structures including Wight's magnificent Academy of Design.

The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company building, seen from Madison Avenue.  from the collection of the New York Public Library

Two years later, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company expanded again, filling the rest of the Madison Avenue block with a soaring tower and, in the process, razing another masterful building (one which also had Tiffany interiors), Stanford White's Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church.

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